A harsh penalty has been imposed on Esperance Shire councillor Gemma Johnston.
The State Administrative Tribunal ordered her to cease acting as a Councillor after upholding a complaint from the Shire of Esperance itself.
She has been suspended from her Shire position for one month, after Shire chief executive Shane Burge apparently reported her failure to undertake at least seven hours’ training as ordered by a standards panel.
SAT said it was made under a section of the Local Government Act that requires the Shire CEO to publish any censure ordered by a standards panel against a council member.
It also requires him to refer any failure to comply with the order to the State Administrative Tribunal.
A Shire of Esperance spokesperson explained the suspension.
“Being suspended means you cannot perform any function as a Councillor or representative of the Shire of Esperance during the period of suspension,” she said.
The WA Government’s independent Local Government Standards Panel investigated a Shire complaint against Cr Johnston in November.
It found that she had committed two “minor breaches” of the Local Government Act and Regulations when she engaged a private consultant to report on a planning matter, and shared the report with Councillors before they voted on it.
“Cr Johnston purported to be engaging Edge Planning on behalf of the Council in order for them to provide alternatives “that we as a council should consider” and Cr Johnston sent this information to the Councillors prior to the relevant Ordinary Council Meeting for consideration in respect to the relevant item,” the report says.
The Panel found that there was nothing preventing Cr Johnston from seeking her own information or expressing the view that the report provided by staff was not adequate.
However it found she had tried to usurp the administration’s functions by using her own research to try to sway the vote.
“It is an integral part of the role of a local councillor that they understand the strict separation between the role of the administration of the local government and the role of the elected members,” the report says.
“The Panel deems that it is prudent that Cr Johnston undertake training to refresh her understanding of her role as an elected member.”
This would have been an online or in-person course for elected members in “Planning Practices — Essentials” provided by the WA Local Government Association or an equivalent.
Instead, Cr Johnston made an unsuccessful appeal to SAT which imposed the one-month suspension as a penalty.
